Overheard at Long Beach – Friday
04/15/11 Weather-wise Friday turned out to be another picture perfect day in Long Beach, California. They seem to have a patent on perfect race weather. Coming here for at least 15 years, I can only remember one day that it actually rained, and never on race day……..A big crowd was on hand Friday taking in the sun and all the racing action. The action is non-stop all weekend and there is a buzz in the air that you just don't feel anywhere else…….Hospitality appeared to be very healthy, definitely up from the lean years, but not yet back to the CART heydays……..Spotted former driver Willy T. Ribbs making the rounds and meeting up with old friends…….Mike Conway is in the black Window World Cares car this weekend…….Spotted Simon Pagenaud talking to HPD's Eric Berkman over lunch. Pagenaud drove the HPD Acura last year and he later told us he definitely is trying to do a full-time IndyCar deal for next year and hopes to run a few more races this year. Right now his only conflicts are the 24 Hours of LeMans and 24 Hours of Spa races with Peugeot……Ran into Dan Clarke who is driving in NASCAR Canadian Series this year but has his eye on returning to open wheel if the sponsorship materializes…….We asked a number of drivers (Matos, Kimball, de Silvestro, and team owner Dale Coyne) what they thought about the double file restarts and everyone agree it was exciting. The general consensus was "They are here to stay so we as drivers have to figure out how to make it work. By the end of the year it should get better." However, most agreed that this track, with its concrete walls, is going to be a challenge……The consensus in the paddock is they hope IndyCar moves all its races to network TV on NBC (not NBC Sports Channel) starting in 2013. Giving NBC the Indy 500 might be incentive enough for them to do it. The team owners have a hard time getting sponsorship with Versus TV ratings……We hear that things are looking good for this year's Brazil race on May 1st with ticket sales and hospitality sales good…..Practice 2 ended after just two laps for Paul Tracy. Damage was mostly to the front wing but he was done for the day……One of the Corvette teams had a transmission problem early in morning practice. The team did a full transmission change right there on pit road……Tony Cotman gave us an update on the new car and engine packages for 2012. See my feature article a bit later on our Home page. Mark C. reporting from Long Beach